You’re heading off to school and you want to major in a field that will lend itself to a vibrant career, right? Well, though everyone heads off to college with the same intention (more or less), the career space is vast, and sometimes all of the options we’re given can be overwhelming.

So, how do you decide which educational pathway to take in order to ensure that you’ll land a good paying job?

The answer is simple, and this is done through research, understanding your own interests, and looking at the job growth projections for a specific field.

Whether you’re looking in the healthcare industry, marketing, or any other viable industry with long-term projected job growth, understanding the job market for these professions is essential to making a good decision about which educational path you’re going to pursue.e

Here, we’ll look at a few jobs within a few different industries with top earning potential.

Physician’s Assistant

One path in the healthcare space that doesn’t require more than a decade of education and training is to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant, which is good news because there are specialty-specific job sites that allow you to easily find a PA job.

A Physician’s assistant (PA) is a highly trained mid-level healthcare provider, and this career has the potential to start as a new PA at north of $100,000 per year. The educational path does require graduate studies in a 2-year PA program after completing a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of science or healthcare.

In addition to schooling, a PA generally works within a healthcare field such as a paramedic or as a nurse while attending graduate school.

Marketing Manager

The world of marketing is vast, and a marketing career can be applied to many different fields of study and industries. In addition, getting your foot in the door of the marketing space can be as easy as attaining a Bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Usually, a 4-year degree is all that is required to land a career in marketing, however, those who go on to grad school and earn a Master’s degree in the field are able to command much higher earning potential.

For example, the range in a marketing manager’s salary runs anywhere between $60,000 per year to $200,000 per year, and this is largely due to experience and educational backgrounds.

If you’re considering a marketing career, you may also want to supplement your education in a relevant field of study so that your expertise in the marketing realm can translate into a specific field.

For example, a marketing manager in the casino and gaming industry must learn an entirely new dynamic of marketing within the gaming industry. While a marketing professional in the advertising space can generally acquire transferable skills to other industries, those industry-specific marketing positions, such as affiliate marketing, digital marketing, or direct sales marketing all have different technologies and trades to learn about.

Education Administration

Not much thought is generally put into the individuals behind the scenes who work at elementary schools, secondary schools, and colleges or universities. But, without an administrative staff running the show, a school wouldn’t be able to operate functionally.

Education administration professionals are usually educators who have left their teaching profession behind to focus on administrative efforts. Such roles might include a principal, vice-principal, disciplinarian, financial aid director, associate dean, dean of admissions, etc.

Though there are many roles in education administration, most who pursue this field go on to grad school to earn a Master’s, Specialist’s, or Doctorate in Education degree in educational administration.

This is a role for those who would like to stay in the realm of education, while not being tied to teaching in the classroom. Some individuals simply feel they belong in the academic space, and these supportive and administrative roles offer educators and academics a chance to work with students of all ages.

In addition to a rewarding career in education, an education administration major can earn anywhere between $60,000 to $400,000 per year depending on his or her position and the school at which they’re employed.